Hot off the press! Photograph taken this morning. Coquet Island; morning glory!!

The Island was a place where saints met; St Cuthbert and Elfleda, Abbess of Whitby on a number of occasions. Also where St Henry of Coquet lived until his death in 1127. He was known for his gifts of healing and his cheerfulness!! A truly glorious place!!! Now a RSPB reserve.

Stormy afternoon, a couple of days ago. Some Black Headed Gulls playing in and with the waves. Just for the sheer joy of it, and because they can! Not a care in the world!

I watched them for a few minutes and found myself being lost in the pondering. The camera has captured a moment in time which each of us can reflect upon, and interpret in our own way.

As I write this, I’m reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 6, verse 26; ‘Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them’. The intimate relationship between the created and the Creator. Then Jesus adds something else in verse 27; ‘And can any of you by worrying, add a single hour to your span of life?’ We’re probably finding something resonating inside of our thinking at this moment. A tacit agreement with the simple observations that Jesus throws our way!

The whole point of this is to challenge each of us to ponder our connection with the Creator. We may pay lip service to many things in terms of our belief, but how many times do we get diverted by worry, fear, misunderstandings….add your own reflection to the list. Jesus continues in verse 33; … ‘look for the kingdom of God and his profound goodness and everything will fall into place..’ , (My paraphrase)

This is where I think freedom arrives in our hearts and lives. All the worry that bounces around our thinking, locks us down, keeps us diverted, and speaking personally, trapped, needs to be diverted, by simply listening to the whisper of God through the Holy Spirit at work, every moment, in your life and mine.

The Lord bless your journey, and keep you safe along your path, and open to the still small voice of calm.

I missed a very special moment yesterday. My 50th post! When I set out nearly two months ago, I genuinely never thought about how it would develop and work out. Thank you so much to all of you, for being part of this. Your encouragement and comments have been a blessing,

The photgraph shows a sunset moment I captured a couple of nights ago, as I stood in our garden. I’ve used the word, ‘Interweaving’, because of the way the clouds have arranged themselves, as the sun set in the western sky. Their interweaving looks a little chaotic; but the chaos seems to accentuate the gentle resting of the sun. All kinds of things are going on, just as we experience in our own lives.

Our lives are made up of many strands, woven together, sometimes broken, sometimes healing,,.sometimes perplexing, oftentimes a mystery, but a sacred mystery; our own story.

There’s a very prfound interweaving as we try to connect with God; however this is for us. The interweaving of God; Father, Son and Holy Sprit, is not meant to be something too complex for us to understand. It is simply a relationship, which we are invited to be drawn into, whoever we are.

Another animal photgraph, to hang my thoughts on! I’m not going to name the seagull, I think I’ll leave it to you!

The one thing that strikes me, is that this animal seems to know too much, and why not, I ask myself?! I have my own unique take on my part of the creation, you have yours; diversity is hard-wired into the natural world.

We, as human beings are given a mandate by the Creator to look after the earth; our home. Something given, as a gift, to be cherished and nurtured. We will all have our own thoughts on how we have done as a species. At the moment we struggle with the pandemic and its effect and consequence in all our thinking and lives.

The seagull lives in the same world, but with a different perspective and outlook. We have no way of knowing, but it is a live, sentient being and as much a part of God’s creation as we are. Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel, Chapter 6, talks at length about how humans worry, with a subtext of, look at creation, and learn, everyone! Change your mind-set; your comfortable place!

Try to look and see differently. Prerhaps not with the eyes of a seagull, but with an odd moment of contentment; a breathing space, from all the clutter and banging that resounds in your thought life.

Yes, I probably have taken leave of my senses! I photographed this little chap yesterday, as he was sunbathing. We named him Bertram,or what ever the female equivalent might be! Need I say more…but I will!

He just seemed to be enjoying the moment and was completely unphased by my intrusion into his siesta. All will be well, resounded in my head. Lots of things coming together in this one moment. She/he was looking at me and I at her/him. We held each other’s gaze for some time, I just couldn’t turn away. A connection; both on the same planet, energised by the Sun. Part of Creation; observing each other. Living, breating beings held in the moment.

Can you spot the dolphin in this photograph? You have a choice between an orange marker buoy and the dolphin breaking the surface!

It’s always a suprise to see these wonderful creatures, as they make their own way through their own world. Understanding what we don’t, seeing with different eyes, relating to their Creator in their own unique way. I always smile as I reflect on my limited view of the created world, which is endlessly challenging us to be suprised and to think differently.

The Creator and sustainer of all that is, seemingly loves a suprise or two, with which to challenge the human pasrt of creation. Today we celebrate Pentecost; the moment when God’s Holy Spirit inspired a whole rag tag group of Jesus’ disciples to speak in languages they hadn’t learned, about the depth and breadth of God’s limitless love for all Creation.

It was a suprise for the disciples and perplexing to those who looked on. But a moment that revealed the profligacy of the Creator and sustainer of the universe. Seemingly, God wasn’t fussy about who got caught up in the moment! The Apostle Peter had to stand up and tell all those who had gathered that he and the other disciples weren’t drunk and letting the drink talk!!! A wonderful moment, when the power of the suprising moment takes us outside of our comfort zone

Good morning….or whatever stage of the day you are in when you read this!

The Iris in our garden are bursting into a riot of colour. I couldn’t resist using this photograph for today’s reflection!

The whole process from growth to full flower just made me reflect on the possibility that creation itself has at it’s heart the sense of celebration, moment by moment.

Here are the words of the Psalmist at the beginning of Psalm 45; The earth is the Lords’ and everything in it, the world and all who live in it....’ I guess we could probably leave it there and have enough to ruminate upon for some time! But I feel compelled just to add some thoughts!

Celebration might not be top of your thinking or inner conversation at this moment. There are so many other things taking our attention. But in a very simple sense these words from the Psalmist are a way for us to reset our compass, The continuing challenges of the pandemic and the individual loss and tragedy is beyond our understanding at one level,

But resetting the compass? How? These days challenge us to look differently. The words above from Psalm 45 raise more questions than answers, but I can’t run away from them. The words of the Psalmist were offered from personal experience, in the rough and tumble of human existence. I can try and ignore them, push them to one side, but they won’t go away.

I have experienced the love of God in the dark moments of living and tragedy and hope and fear. I’ve wept until I could weep no more.

Celebration is a rich word which can be misused. But when you’ve been through the darkness, the light is more beautiful. God knows in these days we seek hope and understanding. Take a moment to absorb the words above from the Psalmist. Let them weave a path in your thought life.